In Mind Change: How Digital Technologies Are Leaving Their Mark on Our Brains
, neuroscientist Susan Greenfield brings together a range of scientific studies, news events, and cultural criticism to create an incisive snapshot of “the global now.”
Disputing the assumption that our technologies are harmless tools, Greenfield explores whether incessant exposure to social media sites, search engines, and videogames is capable of rewiring our brains, and whether the minds of people born before and after the advent of the Internet differ.
Now, has technology changed us? In a word, yes.
Do you worry that screen-based devices –computers, video games, smartphones, tablets–are rewiring your brain? Perhaps you should because they certainly are. That’s because everything you do transforms the connections in your brain.
Plasticity is the brain remarkability to change and adapt, forming new paths in response to new experiences and that occurs throughout life
Neuroscientists used to believe that as we age neuronal networks become fixed but now the consenses is that the brain adapts all the time and that you can teach old dogs new tricks.
Yet brain plasticity has a potential downside: The scientist Susan Greenfield believes that we could be at risk from modern digital media
Electronic gadgets are litteraly reshaping our brains. And we don’t know yet how far reaching the effects would be.
She’s concerned that future generations may be played with attention disorders, screen addictions and poor social skills.
Of course new technologies can changes us for the better. She is also suggesting they can be used to boost creativity.
But things are turning down very badly. In the future education will all have to be delivered in two minute animations.